ST. LOUIS (AP) Stanley Jackson and buddy Steven Crow can be excused if they tend to watch their beloved St. Louis Blues with their hands over their eyes, just waiting for the next thing to go wrong.

So when the Blues beat the San Jose Sharks in Game 7 to earn their first berth in the Stanley Cup Final since 1970, a rematch with the Boston Bruins 49 years in the making, the two old friends couldn't hold back.

"We were like two 9-year-olds," Jackson, 52, said. "We were hugging and jumping. We were crying like babies."